Rachel is a longtime educator, working as a teacher at Alaya Preschool the Shambhala inspired Preschool in Boulder Co. for over 20 years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and a Masters Degree in Contemplative Education from Naropa University. She is currently director at Alaya Preschool. Supporting opportunities for children and families to connect with themselves and each other through the Shambhala teachings is a passion for her and she has been involved in family programming in Shambhala since 2002. She lives in Boulder Co with her husband Brian and daughter Wini.

Kaitlyn has been working in the Early Education field for 8 years. She started her journey as an Assistant Teacher at Timberline Learning Center in Breckenridge, CO where she eventually was promoted into a Lead Teacher role. Falling in love with the field and with the desire to grow, she found herself as the Assistant Director of a center in Lakewood. By getting her early education roots in a school that practiced the Reggio Emilia philosophy, she was excited to join Alaya and dive into their Contemplative education style.

Originally from New York, Kaitlyn moved to Colorado for the mountains. She is an avid skier, hiker and biker. She spends most of her time off enjoying the great outdoors with her partner, Patrick, and their pup, Bean Sprout.

Kasia Szewczyk brings over 14 years of nonprofit fundraising including major gifts fundraising, capital campaigns and building endowments for nonprofits. She spent 6 years at the "I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County as the Vice President of Development. During this time the organization quadrupled its donations from its major fundraising events, increasing donations from approximately $600,000 to $2,400,000 and grew it's annual fundraising from $1.3 M to over $4 which allowed the organization to serve more cohorts of students during this time period than they had been able to do during the previous 23 years of their existence.

Kasia is also an entrepreneur with business development and marketing experience in both the US and abroad. She has co-founded several companies and lives in Boulder, CO with her husband and two children.

Paige Doughty grew up between Apple Valley, Minnesota and Brussels, Belgium, she moved five times between those places before she was 15. After high school in Minnesota, where she attended the School of Environmental Studies, she majored in English Literature and French Language at the University of Colorado in Boulder. After college she moved to Sydney, Australia where she taught these subjects. Shortly thereafter, Paige went back to school to get her Master of Science in Environmental Education.

Paige’s training as a spiritual teacher comes from 14 years of spiritual study and mentorship with teacher and counselor Jennifer McKeown. In the course of those 14 years, Paige has intensively studied with Adyashanti, Eckhart Tolle, and Gangaji.

Paige works as an educator, consultant, public speaker, and workshop facilitator. She is also one half of the performing duo "Jeff and Paige," where she teachers children and their grown ups using music, costumes, and theater about science, nature, and sustainability.

Jane is originally from England she moved to the US to get her Masters in Communication. Then spent several years working in University Administration, in the Admissions office, lecturing in the Communication department, and in International Education, managing programs, partnerships and course accreditation across the world.

She currently supports the daily operations of two financial companies in the US.

Recently, she spent five years co-chairing the Boulder Library Champions, who won a ballot measure to secure sustainable funding for the Boulder Public library and expand the service area and tax base to better serve its patrons.

Jane has also served on several community and educational boards, raised funds for libraries, and teacher pay in early education. She enjoys hiking, skiing, dancing and is busy raising three kids, aged 6, 10, and 12.

Originally from the rocky beaches of the Pacific Northwest, then onward into the Appalachian Mountains, Liv Phipps is grateful to now call the Front Range home.

She received her MA in Mental Health Counseling & Expressive Arts Therapy from Appalachian State University. She also studied child development in nature, both at the University of Washington (Seattle) and Dronning Mauds Minne Høgskole in Trondheim, Norway. 

She has experience teaching preschool, leading families in nature-based counseling, and managing education non-profits. She also served as a founding board member for an outdoor, nature-based education school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She currently works in higher education in Boulder, Colorado.

Outside of professional work, Liv spends her time dabbling in realism painting (mostly food & flowers), hiking with her family, and sewing magical birthday crowns.